Under this Programme, Italy will mobilise €1.5 billion from various sources, including €1.1 billion from the European budget (Youth Employment Initiative and the European Social Fund), to help young people to find a job. Italy is the second largest recipient of Youth Employment Initiative funds (over €530 million), which will be spent in almost all Italian regions under the coordination of the Ministry of Labour.

The Operational Programme will mainly contribute to implementation of the Youth Guarantee, the ambitious EU-wide reform aiming to ensure that every young person up to 25 years is presented with a quality offer of employment, education or training within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. Considering the characteristics of the Italian labour market, Italy has chosen to extend these interventions to people aged up to 29.

All beneficiaries will be offered a personalised approach through a large variety of tailored actions:

information and guidance sessions;

vocational training;

work placements;

apprenticeships, in particular for the youngest;

traineeships, not only limited to the most qualified (graduates);

promotion of self-employment and self-entrepreneurship;

transnational and territorial professional mobility opportunities;

a civil service scheme with a possibility to certify the acquisition of new skills.

Ownership is also a key feature of the YEI programme since participants will be asked to sign individual agreements ("Patto di attivazione") when enrolling in a curriculum.

Italian regions are key actors for the success of this programme. In the framework of the overall strategy, they have designed specific interventions tailored to their needs and consistent with the local socio-economic context. They will benefit from the support of all key players, in particular the Public Employment Services which are in the process of revisiting their procedures to offer innovative activation measures.